Instant messaging (“IM”) systems have become very popular in recent times with the increasing use of the internet and email by all sectors of the community as a communication medium. With internet use pervading the areas of the domestic market and being taken up by younger, computer-literate generations as a social medium in its own right, a need has arisen for spontaneous and “instantaneous” messages to be exchanged between two or more parties connected to the internet simultaneously. This need has not been able to able to be satisfied by the use of traditional email systems and consequently, IM systems have spawned as an alternative or adjunct to email.
“Instantaneous” in the context of IM means the ability to receive messages without prompting a message-handling server. This is in contrast to the way typical emails are sent and received by internet users.
To send and receive messages, popular personal computer-based email applications such as Eudora™ or Microsoft Outlook™, employ the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”) and the Post Office Protocol (“POP”). Using POP requires the recipient of an email to query or prompt an email server to which it has subscribed, for messages to download to the user's personal computer (“PC”) or any other internet-connected device.
Email messages are sent by a user from an email PC client application (e.g., Eudora™, Microsoft Outlook™) on that users PC to a mail server to which it has subscribed using SMTP. The mail or SMTP server then forwards the message to the desired recipient's mail server via the internet.
Instant messaging systems work in a different fashion to email, requiring minimal if any user action, to receive messages. Messages are forwarded from a sender's client application, normally a PC-based IM client application program, to the intended recipient's client application via an IM server or directly to the recipient's client, almost in “real time” from the time that a message is sent by the sender, or received by the IM server system—hence “instant”. No querying is needed to get a message to its intended recipient, reflecting more of a “pushing” technology, than a “pulling” of information. Examples of some popular IM systems in the market include AOL's AIM™ and ICQ™.
A characteristic of most IM systems is that a client user is able to set up a network of friends or colleagues, more commonly known as “buddies” with or amongst whom messages can be exchanged instantly. In most of the PC-based client applications, an IM sender must be authorized by the recipient (both are considered “buddies” of one another) to be able to receive messages from the sender. in such cases, an authorization is made by a user specifically instructing the IM server to allow messages to be received from particular senders
In some IM systems, authorizations are not required for users to be included in a buddy list. This means that instant messages may be freely sent amongst existing users and a target user can be added to a particular buddy list of a user without that user requiring the explicit permission of the target user to be so included.
Authorizations may also be required by users to allow them to be detected by other users as being “online”. “Online” in the context of IM means that a client user is connected to the Internet or is otherwise capable of receiving instant messages at a particular moment. The capability of being able to determine who amongst a user's group of buddies is online is an important functionality of IM systems. However, the extent to which existing IM systems can establish whether in fact certain types of client user are online or not, is limited.
Another limitation with current IM systems is that some are not designed to interconnect with particular types of client applications or different IM systems. For example, other client applications may include email-based client applications (eg Eudora™, Microsoft Outlook™) and browser based client applications (eg Internet Explorer™ and Netscape™) on the internet, and also devices connected into a GSM network, such as mobile phones.
GSM networks have their own form of IM system for communicating short textual messages between different subscribers known as “Short Message Service” (“SMS”). With SMS, a “Short Message Service Centre” (“SMSC”) provides a server through which all SMS messages that are sent and received by client subscribers are handled. The messages are short, typically limited to 160 characters in length, and are sent between subscribers of the GSM network, with the SMSC processing the messages for delivery to the right destination using the GSM mobile number of the intended receiver. Under the SMS protocol, the textual message from the sender is initially sent to the SMSC server using the cellular telephone network. The SMSC then stores the message and allocates it to the intended recipient for downloading, in accordance with normal GSM protocol, when the recipient is identified to be active within a cell.
SMS messaging is normally only provided between GSM clients that specifically subscribe to it, however, by virtue of the SMSC server, it is possible to connect to the internet using a particular protocol, dependent upon the particular GSM phone and network manufacturer. For example, Nokia™ uses Computer Interface Message Distribution protocol version Two (CIMD2).
Although the online status of users connected to the internet by way of a PC-based client application is relatively simple, establishing the online status of users having browser-based client applications and GSM client applications is more difficult and generally is not undertaken in the art.
“Online” detection of the GSM client user deserves special mention. Due to the less than perfect coverage and stability of GSM carrier networks, a GSM subscriber may experience intermittent interruptions of coverage and hence inability to receive SMS. Further, the carriers themselves may be reluctant to allow third parties to alter their GSM system settings to allow detection by others of whether a GSM subscriber is within the coverage area of the GSM network or not—and hence whether they are online.